Counter-intuitive

I had settled on scanning my negatives at 2400 dpi because, starting at lower resolutions and working upwards, that was where the grain became noticeable. Any higher resolution, I reasoned, would only make the grains larger and not reveal any more detail. I was wrong.

There seems to be an 'interaction' between the scan resolution and the grain size when the two are close which actually produces a more pronounced appearance of graininess. At higher resolutions, though the grain is still visible, it is less distracting.  Here are some examples:

2400 dpi

3200 dpi

4800 dpi

6400 dpi

9600 dpi

Surprisingly, the least grainy in appearance is the last scan at 9600 dpi (which is a shame since it takes between 7 and 8 minutes per negative at this resolution).  So it looks like I'll just have to learn to be patient.